"Ah, is the meeting over?"
As soon as Hugo entered, Flynn jumped to his feet. Composing his face inconspicuously, Flynn hurriedly approached his superior.
Hugo nodded in response while closing the door and began unbuttoning his cuff. As usual, he handed his gloves to Flynn and briefly relayed the contents of the meeting that had just ended.
"They say they're opening additional gates besides the eastern gates 5 and 6 we discussed this morning. The temporary portals are also expected to be connected by tomorrow."
Although it was a schedule he had set himself, Hugo's face showed clear signs of fatigue as he conveyed the situation, having attended two meetings just today. Because of this, Flynn, waiting for him to unbutton his battle uniform, asked in a deliberately positive tone:
"Then does that mean we might be able to depart earlier than expected?"
"Well, we'll have to see on the day."
Flynn quietly nodded at Hugo's straightforward answer. Then, as if accustomed to it, he took the clothes and went to the corner to organize Hugo's belongings.
Hugo watched Flynn as he moved away, even while briefly washing his hands with conjured water. Soon, he turned his head, and his gaze fell on Leonardo, who was sitting on the deck, staring blankly in their direction.
He immediately strode over with long legs and sat down heavily next to Leonardo. Then, with a more relaxed expression, he studied the pale face and asked casually:
"How's your condition?"
Hugo's hand naturally supported Leonardo's back. His broad upper body leaned slightly in that direction.
Although it was close—nothing that would normally stand out—today Leonardo felt unusually aware of the proximity and shifted his body slightly back as Hugo approached. His mind had become rapidly complicated in just a few seconds.
He had thought it strange that his body had reacted to the Commander when he first woke up, but after hearing Flynn's story, several things intertwined, leaving him extremely confused.
Moreover, the strange scene that had suddenly flashed through his mind overlapped with the image of the Commander he was seeing now. Because of this, he stayed silent, only looking up at him, and Hugo tilted his head and called out again.
"Leonardo?"
"...Huh?"
"I asked how you're feeling. Are you tired?"
At Hugo's continued question, Leonardo belatedly came to his senses. He answered, flustered and rambling, with an expression anyone could see was bewildered:
"Uh, yeah. No? I'm fine. It's nothing."
Hugo, who had been closely examining his complexion, slightly raised an eyebrow at Leonardo's strangely incoherent answer. However, at the assurance that he was fine, he nodded without further comment. Then his eyes turned to the low table pushed back behind them.
Seeing that the amount of soup was virtually unchanged from when he left, his blue eyes creased slightly.
"But why is that still the same?"
Hugo's voice carried a shallow sigh. Leonardo also turned to look at the soup bowl on the table.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Leonardo turned back to Hugo. He wore a somewhat displeased expression. Although he knew it was for his own good, he was too old to be scolded for not eating, and the other's reproachful tone irritated him for the first time in a long while.
Because of this, Leonardo, hugging his knees in an awkward posture, answered in a grumbling tone:
"It tastes bad."
"...Still, you need to eat to recover quickly."
"I feel like I'll get sicker if I eat something that tastes so bad."
"Things that are good for you are usually bitter to the taste."
Although he tried to be stubborn, Hugo spoke firmly, seemingly unwilling to indulge the complaints. Yet contrary to his words, his hand gently brushed Leonardo's bangs.
Leonardo didn't particularly reject the touch, but he still stared at the other with eyes tinged with sullenness. When the fingers reached his face, he lowered his eyes slightly. The brief smirk that had appeared vanished just as quickly.
The large hand, wrapped in warmth, lightly brushed his hair and forehead. Although it wasn't unfamiliar, he felt an unusual tension today, and his nape unconsciously stiffened.
'The poison...'
The golden hair tickling his eyes became entangled between long fingers and was swept back. As his vision cleared, Leonardo slowly lifted his eyelids. The moment he saw Hugo, Flynn's words came to mind again.
'Was it this person who directly sucked it out?'
Although Flynn hadn't said it outright, the medical officer's earlier comment about the Commander participating in the surgery seemed like a hint. And when he combined it with the strange scene that had flashed through his memory, his intuition told him this person was the only one who could have done it.
But Agrizendro looked no different from usual. Except for his eyes seeming a bit more profound—perhaps from fatigue—there was no noticeable change in the face looking at him.
In contrast, Leonardo couldn't maintain his composure as well as the other. His gaze met the other's eyes, then slid down.
He had another hallucination of red liquid spreading around his mouth. At the same time, his left shoulder grew extremely hot.
'This is driving me crazy.'
It wasn't a throbbing pain like before, but a burning sensation as if scalded. Yet the other was ice, far from heat.
'Why on earth would the Commander...?'
If there had been a wound in his mouth, infection would have been only a matter of time when sucking out the poison. Although he seemed fine, Agrizendro had also been seriously injured in the battle with the mother body. If even a little poison had gone down his windpipe or esophagus, it could have been fatal, given his not-insignificant internal injuries.
So it was a very dangerous method for a medical procedure performed by such a high-ranking person. And to think that he did it directly. It felt strange somehow.
He extremely disliked others touching his body without permission—especially his left shoulder. Yet knowing that this person had done so didn't feel as unpleasant. No, rather, it seemed that even saying thank you wouldn't be enough.
According to the medical officer, he might have really been on the verge of death at that time. Moreover, considering what had happened inside the barrier, this wasn't the first or second time he owed this person.
However, since it was only his speculation that the person Flynn mentioned was this man, Leonardo wanted to ask and make sure. His prominent Adam's # Nоvеlight # apple bobbed hard.
"Hey."
As Leonardo's voice carried, the attention of the two people in the same space immediately focused on him. Although he felt a little burdened by the sudden silence, Leonardo opened his mouth to resolve his question.
"Um, my shoulder..."
He just needed to ask if it was you who removed the poison from my shoulder, but contrary to his thoughts, the words didn't come out easily.
He didn't know why. It was just somehow difficult to bring those words up here. Was it because Flynn was over there? The thought suddenly crossed his mind that it might be better to ask when they were alone.
As Leonardo struggled to speak but stopped, Hugo's gaze on him grew ambiguous. He seemed a bit more tense than before, as if sensing something was wrong.
Perhaps because of this, Leonardo's body trembled lightly as if a chill ran through him as he faced him. As he unconsciously hugged his knees and hunched his shoulders, Hugo hesitated, drew his hand back, and asked:
"What, are you cold? Or does your shoulder hurt?"
"...No, it's not that."
Leonardo shook his head, not wanting to worry him. He wasn't cold or in pain; it was just an unknown sensation that set his nerves on edge.
But his gaze kept falling on Hugo's lips as he questioned him. The blue eyes he had seen beyond the rising bubbles were vivid in his mind. Come to think of it, he remembered his lips roughly colliding with the man in front of him when he was on the brink of going berserk. The other's mana that had filled his stomach seemed to still be squirming even now.
At this point, Leonardo decided to simply stop looking at Hugo. Reason suppressed instinct.
All the actions the other had taken toward him must have been to save his life, but he felt intense self-loathing for unnecessarily recalling the sensation of those lips.
Leonardo half-covered his lips, as if resting his chin on his palm. Hugo stared at him with a gaze half questioning, half worried at his constantly changing reactions.
Then, just in case, he used his mana to raise the room temperature again. At that moment, Flynn, who had been watching the two from the corner, suddenly broke the silence that seemed about to stretch on.
"Um, Commander. What should we do about Blaine's clothes?"
This time, Hugo and Leonardo turned their eyes to Flynn at the same time. As soon as Hugo understood Flynn's words, he shifted his gaze to the battle uniform Leonardo was wearing.
Leonardo followed his gaze and looked down at the sleeve that covered more than half of his palm.
'Ah.'
Come to think of it, he was still wearing this.
